The City of Tshwane has called on national government to consider declaring the metro’s infeed substations national key points.
The City says this will ensure that armed soldiers are deployed there to protect them against vandalism and cable theft by armed criminals.
This follows the attacks on security guards in which one guard was fatally shot at the Nyala substation on Tuesday night resulting in a prolonged power outage in parts of the city.
Tshwane Utilities MMC Themba Fosi says it is alleged that a shootout between a groups of armed cable thieves resulted in the damage to the substation.
“We wish also to invite our residents to make sure that any illegal activity on our infrastructure should be reported to the TMPD and SAPS. And any other law enforcement agencies to make sure that we curb them. We would also like to appeal to the national government to intervene and take the step of making all infeed stations as national key points so that they can be guarded by our military and the level of force that is being used by the thieves should be mitted out by the defence force of our country to make sure that we have stable electricity in our country.”
Electricity cable theft a major issue in South Africa, 6 February 2023:
Business operators affected
Business operators in the Tshwane Metro, particularly in Pretoria West, say their businesses have been severely impacted following an attack on guards at the Nyala substation.
They say switching to an alternative energy supply is costly.
“After a certain amount of hours the battery will die and we cannot put on solar panels here because of the environment they will steal them. So it is frustrating for business because once it switches off we must re-start and we cannot help customers much faster especially when it’s full and busy.”
Another business owner says “It kills and makes business slow. It’s a loss. We make preparations for generators but it is also costing a lot.”
